In His Name Devotionals
SPIRITUAL ENEMIES
In His Name Devotionals
SPIRITUAL ENEMIES
“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Timothy 2:3 NKJV)
Christians are described in the Bible as “soldiers.” What you may not have taken into account, is your enemies. The Bible presents them this way, “For we wrestle not against the rulers of the darkness of this world, but against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
In the days of the apostles it is true that their conflict often involved the military. It was soldiers who crucified Christ. It was soldiers that placed Paul in custody. Your enemies are of a different sort as you can see from your reading. As a Christian, you wrestle not in physical combat, as Paul said.
You wrestle against “principalities and powers.” These are spiritual adversaries, these Paul pictured as the “wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). It is not necessary for you to inquire as to just what he meant, but you do need to be aware of their source and danger in these adversaries. Their advantage is in the fact that they are a part of the world. You read about the “god of this world,” the “prince of this world, and of the “whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). Does this excite you, or alarm you? Does it just deceive you?
It should be of concern to you that these enemies, since they are not flesh and blood are invisible. If you could see them you could protect yourself from them by bars and locks and measures of security, but what do you do with those unseen evils that walk in “darkness” (1 John 1:6)? Your enemies are always near you, and as soldiers of the Cross you need to meet and defeat your foes, through Christ.
